Role of ‘money man’ in Surfside pier restaurant described both as critical and unimportant

SURFSIDE BEACH -- The Surfside Beach Town Council unanimously approved a lease contract for the restaurant at the town-owned pier in a special meeting Monday morning, but a partner in the limited liability corporation given the contract said he may withdraw from that the group.

It could not be determined Monday if that potentially might be problematic to the group, its contract or the town, but the partner in question – Buz Plyler, owner of Gay Dolphin Gift Cove on Ocean Boulevard in Myrtle Beach – was described as the group’s financial backer in a closed door session prior to the council’s vote, according to Town Councilman Doug Samples..

“As I understand it,” Samples said, “Mr. Plyler will operate as the money man.”

Bill Howard, another partner in the three-person group, agreed that Plyler’s role was as the financial partner.

But Plyler said in an earlier interview earlier Monday that he does not occupy that spot in the group, and repeated several times that he might withdraw from the partnership altogether.

“I have not made a decision to continue the relationship,” he said at one point.

“It isn’t a completely done deal,” he said at another.

“I’m not able to say at this point that I’ll be a partner on the deal,” he said at a third.

The distinction of his role in Atlantic Restaurant Group, the name of the LLC that the town board voted unanimously to give a five-year lease on the pier restaurant space, may be unimportant, legally.

South Carolina law says that a partner of a limited liability corporation is not personally liable for any of its debts, according to a synopsis of the law on the website of the S.C. Secretary of State. Howard and Bill Roth, the LLC’s third partner, are listed as guarantors of the lease agreement, according to town officials. The law says guarantors are personally liable for debts.

But some in town government also say that Plyler’s name on official records as the LLC’s agent and his solid business reputation were important in how they viewed the contract.

Mayor Allen Deaton said Plyler’s name on records was “extremely important” until he learned that Plyler was less than enthusiastic about his future participation in the venture.

He said the town got Plyler’s financial records and statements as part of due diligence on the contract, but contended after he heard of Plyler’s statements that the absence of his name as the LLC’s agent would not have changed his vote for the contract.

“As far as I’m concerned,” he said, “we’ve got a done deal until something changes.”

The town began looking for a lessee for the restaurant space in the latter half of 2010. In December 2010, Nibil’s restaurant, which had occupied the space for 20 years, announced it was moving elsewhere.

A subsequent conditional approval the town previously gave to another would-be lessee was withdrawn after council members learned information about the lessee they did not know when they gave their approval. The withdrawal from that deal is now the subject of a lawsuit.

Plyler said he agreed to put his name on the Atlantic Restaurant LLC in order to help Howard and Roth get over the first hurdles for the Surfside space, including securing a loan to get the business in operation. But he said it would not be correct to say that he has agreed to back the loan financially if Howard and Roth don’t find another backer.

He said that Howard and Roth have good, solid experience as managers and restaurateurs.

“Money is key at this point,” he said.

The agreement with the town binds the LLC to a five-year lease agreement that commits it to pay the town $50,000 this year, a figure that is to increase by $2,500 each year. The contract may be renewed for a second five years, and the lease payment will continue to increase by $2,500 in each of those years as well. If it is renewed beyond the second term, the lease payment will be negotiated.

Additionally, the group plans extensive interior renovations at the space, Howard said, that includes new plumbing and heating and cooling systems. Other improvements, according to the town, will include roofing, windows, exterior decking, electrical and flooring.

The town, for its part, has agreed to give the group an annual credit over 10 years of up to $162,500 for nonmoveable improvements made to the building. The credit will be $27,500 in the first year of the agreement, information from the town shows, and will decrease by $2,500 each year until it reaches $5,000 in the tenth year.

Town administrator Jim Duckett said the town will also update electrical and plumbing connections to the restaurant.

Howard said he has owned numerous restaurants along the Grand Strand during his 40 years in the business. He said he is currently the owner of Dirty Don’s Oyster Bar and Grill on Ocean Boulevard.

He said he has the financial wherewithal on his own to back any loans the group may take, but that banks now like to have a lot of signatures on a loan.

“The money’s already secured,” Howard said.

He said more than once that Plyler won’t withdraw from Atlantic Restaurant Group LLC.

“He’s a developer,” he said of Plyler. “He’s a good one too.”

Deaton insisted he did not characterize Plyler as the money man in a conversation after Monday’s meeting, but rather as a man with money. He said he wouldn’t comment on what was said in the closed session because it would be illegal for him to do so.

It would not, said Bill Rogers, executive director of the S.C. Press Association. If anything, he said, public officials have a responsibility to discuss what happens in closed sessions if they believe it to be improper.

In fact, the state’s Freedom of Information Act says public bodies may disclose information not normally defined as open to the public.

Samples said he wondered during the closed session why Plyler wasn’t listed as a guarantor on the lease agreement if he was in fact the money man behind Atlantic Restaurant Group. But he didn’t ask why that was, he said.

He said he would have felt differently about the agreement if he had felt less than 100 percent sure of Plyler’s financial commitment to the organization.

“He was a critical element,” Samples said.

He plans now to begin asking questions, he said.

But that could be moot at this point. The council’s unanimous vote to approve the contract at Monday’s special meeting would make it difficult at best to rescind it without facing another lawsuit.

Surfside town attorney Ken Moss said he’s not worried about the earlier breach of contract lawsuit because there was never any contract to breach. The town’s conditional approval was not a final vote.

All the players, though, are hoping the new venture will be successful.

“I’m pleased we are moving forward,” Samples said before he learned of Plyler’s reluctance over his part in the partnership. “It’s a public asset that needs to be put in use.”

“We’re moving forward,” Deaton said.

“We’re excited about it,” Howard said.